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Lafayette reminds residents of city's permanent watering restrictions

Snowpack in Boulder Creek basin up to 180 percent of average

By Joe Rubino, Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
05/04/2014 12:00:00 PM MDT

Updated:
05/05/2014 10:42:58 AM MDT

A bicycling commuter weaves his way through the lawn sprinklers along the path near Broomfield's East Park during Bike to Work Day last June. Broomfield, like most cities in Boulder County, does not have water restrictions in place at the moment. Lafayette, however, is reminding its residents that its restrictions have been made permanent. (David R. Jennings / Daily Camera file photo)

Mandatory 2014 watering restrictions

Lafayette: Watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. is banned, as is allowing excessive water to run over areas that do not have vegetation and spraying down or washing paved areas such as driveways.

Superior: Watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. is banned.

Boulder: None.

Longmont: None.

Louisville: None.

Erie: None.

Superior: None.

Broomfield: None, but recommended rules are available on the water conservation hotline at 303-438-6210.

After a winter of near-average snowfall, many cities and towns in Boulder and Broomfield counties to this point have not adopted mandatory lawn watering restrictions this year.

But following a weekend of summer-like conditions, Lafayette officials are reminding residents that since November, the city has permanent water conservation rules in place.

Those rules, codified in a city ordinance, ban most forms of outdoor irrigation between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., excessive water overrun onto sidewalks and streets, gutters and other vegetation-less surfaces and spraying down or washing paved areas including driveways.

"The City Council felt that these were prudent activities that should be in place throughout the year, not just during drought times," city spokeswoman Debbie Wilmot said, adding that since the ordinance was adopted the city has heard little in the way of push-back against the rules.

"I think people are aware and concerned about water conservation, so we have not had a lot of negative resident feedback," she said.

The ordinance does make exceptions to the 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. restriction. Hand watering with a hose is allowed in residential areas because it allows for more control than sprinklers, Wilmot said. Irrigation of commercial agriculture, city-owned athletic fields and at the city-operated Indian Peaks Golf Course also is exempted, though it should be fairly uncommon on city property, according to Wilmot.

"For the most part the city will be complying with these as well," she said. "In the heat of the summer, there might be some times where we just can't run the entire watering schedule off hours, but that will be a unique situation. It will not be the standard."

Promoting recommended guidelines

Restrictions on lawn watering have been common along the Front Range over the past 15 years as municipalities struggle to protect their water resources in an area that is no stranger to serious drought.

Superior, for a number of years, has banned residential watering between the hours of 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., according to town manager Matt Magley.

Though nearly all communities in the Boulder-Broomfield region recommend watering guidelines similar to the permanent restrictions in Lafayette, a majority have yet to enact mandatory restrictions this year.

Broomfield has a goal to decrease outdoor water usage by 10 percent this year, and while the rule isn't mandatory, a message on the city's water conservation hotline recommends breaking lawns into zones and watering each zone no more than 45 minutes per week.

In Erie, town officials recommend residents water their lawns no more than twice a week, avoiding the 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. peak-heat window, Fred Diehl, assistant to the town administrator, said this week. But mandatory restrictions are unlikely in 2014.

"We don't anticipate(restrictions)," he said. "We always monitor and if conditions warrant we will make that recommendation."

Emphasis on teaching, not ticketing

Boulder city staff members on Tuesday will go before the City Council and explain that, based on water storage levels, restrictions are not necessary at this time and should not be necessary later this summer, according to public works spokesman Mike Banuelos.

Snowpack measurements recently taken across the Boulder Creek basin are between 130 and 180 percent of average for this time of year, Banuelos said, making it likely the Boulder's reservoirs will fill and spill in 2014, not dwindle to restriction-level lows.

"We will not have any watering restrictions this year," he said.

In Lafayette, Wilmot said, the emphasis will be on education about water restrictions this year, not on penalizing offenders.

The watering restriction ordinance gives the city authority to ticket offenders $100 for a first offense, $250 for a second and $500 for a third and each subsequent offense. But water consumers are entitled to two written warnings before the first fine is issued.

"Our intent is not to just ticket folks. Our intent is to help them understand what the rules are so they can comply," Wilmot said.

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